Notice to Contributors
The ASQ logo reads, "Dedicated to advancing the understanding of administration through empirical investigation and theoretical analysis." The editors interpret that statement to contain three components that affect editorial decisions. About any manuscript they ask: does this work to (1) advance understanding, (2) address administration, (3) have mutual relevance for empirical investigation and theoretical analysis? Theory is how we move to further research and improved practice. If manuscripts contain no theory, their value is suspect. Ungrounded theory, however, is no more helpful than are atheoretical data. We are receptive to multiple forms of grounding but not to a complete avoidance of grounding.
Normal science, replication, synthesis, and systematic extension are all appropriate submissions for ASQ, but people submitting such work should articulate what has been learned that we did not know before. That it has been done before is no reason that it should be done again. There are topics within organizational studies that have become stagnant, repetitious, and closed. Standard work that simply repeats the blind spots of the past does not advance understanding even though work like it has been published before.
ASQ asks, "What's interesting here?" But we take pains not to confuse interesting work with work that contains mere novelties, clever turns of phrase, or other substitutes for insight. We try to identify those ideas that disconfirm assumptions by people who do and study administration. Building a coherent, cumulative body of knowledge typically requires work that suggests syntheses, themes, causal sequences, patterns, and propositions that people have not seen before. Interesting work should accelerate development.
We attach no priorities to subjects for study, nor do we attach greater significance to one methodological style than another. For these reasons, we view all our papers as high-quality contributions to the literature and present them as equals to our readers. The first paper in each issue is not viewed by the editors as the best of those appearing in the issue. Our readers will decide for themselves which of the papers are exceptionally valuable.
We refrain from listing explicit topics in which we are interested. ASQ should publish things the editors have never thought of, and we encourage that by being vague about preferences. Authors should look at what ASQ has published over the last 10 years, see if there are any precedents for the proposed submission, and, if there is even a glimmer of precedent, submit the work to ASQ. Manuscripts that are inappropriate will be returned promptly.
We are interested in compact presentations of theory and research, suspecting that very long manuscripts contain an unclear line of argument, multiple arguments, or no argument at all. Each manuscript should contain one key point, which the author should be able to state in one sentence. Digressions from one key point are common when authors cite more literature than is necessary to frame and justify an argument.
We are interested in good writing and use poor writing as a reason to reject manuscripts. We're looking for manuscripts that are well argued and well written. By well argued we mean that the argument is clear and logical; by well written we mean that the argument is accessible and well phrased. Clear writing is not an adornment but a basic proof of grasp.
The basic flaw common to rejected manuscripts is that authors are unable to evaluate critically their own work and seem to make insufficient use of colleagues before the work is submitted. All work has alternative explanations. All work contains flaws. The best way to recognize flaws is to discard the discussion section, ask what was learned and what is wrong with it, and frame the discussion in terms of these discoveries. To do this is to anticipate reviewers and improve the probability of acceptance.
Preparation of Manuscripts
Submit manuscripts electronically. Attach a file with the manuscript in a Word-compatible format, to an e-mail message and send it to asq-submit@johnson.cornell.edu. The attached file must include all figures and tables. Include in the e-mail message the title of the manuscript, authors' names, and the e-mail and postal addresses of the corresponding author. The manuscript itself must include a title page with all of the authors' affiliations and contact information. In addition, type the title on the abstract page so that the title page can be removed to preserve the authors' anonymity. Use the following guidelines to prepare manuscripts:
- Include an informative 100-word abstract that describes the material presented in the paper, including the question or focus, the type of study reported (e.g., empirical, laboratory, qualitative, field study, etc.), the context (e.g., work groups, Fortune 500 firms, hospitals, cooperatives, etc.), and the major findings. For examples, see abstracts of published work on the ASQ web page (http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/publications/asq/).
- Type all copy, except tables, double-spaced in 12-point type. Type in block form, with an extra double-space between paragraphs. Use footnotes sparingly. Essential material should be incorporated in the text; material with weak relevance should be deleted. Organize the manuscript by using primary, secondary, and tertiary headings (see a recent issue of ASQ for format), rather than numbered headings.
- To preserve anonymity in the blind-review process, authors should avoid revealing their identity in text, through obvious self-references to previous work, or in footnotes. If authors cite their own published work or work in progress, however, these references must be included in the references with full bibliographic information. Authors should reference their own work as they would the work of any other scholar. Reviewers will ask what the contribution of a manuscript is above what has already been published and must have this information.
- Omit italics unless absolutely necessary. Use only abbreviations known to the general public and avoid unnecessary acronyms; spell out an abbreviated term when first used. Avoid parentheses in textual material. Use quotation marks only for direct quotations. Spell out numbers from one to nine and those that begin a sentence. Write out "percent" in text; use percentage sign in tables.
- Put tables or figures each on separate pages and attach them at the end of the manuscript after the references, rather than inserting them in the text. Include a note (i.e., Insert table 1 about here) at the point in text where they are referenced. Present graphic material so that the meaning is immediately clear by including a title on every figure and table and labeling axes and diagrams.
- Use the active voice whenever possible, but use "we" only for multiple authors. Use the past tense for discussing earlier studies or presenting methods, samples, data, findings, results, and conclusions. Use the present tense for discussing tables or figures as they are presented in text.
- Define a term accurately when it is first used and use it consistently with that meaning throughout. Find the best way to express an idea once, rather than repeating the same idea in different words. Do not use a clause where a phrase will do or a phrase where a word will do. Avoid jargon; do not mistake it for technical terminology.
References. Discuss only literature that pertains directly to the thesis or research of the paper and make it clear how it relates. Cite a representative set of references when there is a large literature. References to articles, books, and other source works should be cited in the text by noting—in parentheses—the last name of the author, the year of publication, and page numbers where appropriate. Do not use "ibid.," "op. cit.," or "loc. cit."; specify subsequent citations of the same source in the same way as the first citation. In the reference section, list every reference cited in the manuscript; do not list a reference that isn't cited in the text. Provide authors' last names and initials, year, title, volume and pages of journals, editors' names and inclusive pages for chapters in edited volumes, and publisher and place of publication for books. Use the following guidelines in citing references:
- If the author's name is in the text, follow it with the year in parentheses [e.g., "Glaser (1992) recommended . . ."]. If the author's name is not in the text, insert it in parentheses, followed by a comma and the year. Multiple references are listed chronologically in parentheses, separated by semicolons.
- For two or three authors, give all the authors' last names in text each time the work is cited; if there are four or more authors, give only the first author's name followed by "et al." and the date for each citation.
- Page numbers, to indicate a passage in a book or to give the source of a quotation, follow the year and are preceded by a colon.
- If there is more than one reference to the same author in the same year, postscript the date with a, b, c, etc. (e.g., Miller and Friesen, 1980a).
- For a source that is forthcoming or in press, give an estimated year of publication and use that date for citations in text. Add "in press" or "forthcoming" in parentheses at the end of the bibliographic information in the references.
List all references as an appendix to the manuscript. Alphabetize by author and, for each author, list in chronological sequence. List the authors' last names and initials. Use no italics or abbreviations. Use one tab between the date and the title. See examples:
